Alzheimer's and the Dreaded Bowel Movement

I already wrote about how I beat urinary incontinence and bladder infections. That solution is not perfect. Poop. No enema, no pills, no laxatives. How I won the Poop-E war.....

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

I really wanted to entitle this article Alzheimer's and the Magic Elixir. However, I am not using anything to mask the taste of my solution so it just didn't fit. I also considered Alzheimer's and the Poop Panacea. Panacea does fit -- panacea is a literary term to represent any solution to solve all problems related to a particular issue.

This article is about implementing a solution to a problem with someone suffering from Alzheimer's disease and having a problem with bowel movements.

Simple Tests to Detect Alzheimer's and Dementia the Old Fashioned Way

In my little world here in Delray Beach, Florida I have learned a harsh lesson -- it is very difficult to diagnose mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and probable Alzheimer's. Here are some simple tests for Alzheimer's and dementia that could be helpful......

Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
Editor


I knew something was wrong with my mother. I knew it. When I would mention some of my concerns to family and friends they would usually conclude -- she is getting old. When it first started to really bother me my mother was 86 years old.

Watch the Memory Loss Tapes Now on the Intenet (HBO Streaming Video)

You can watch the Memory Loss Tapes on the Internet Right now.

For all the information and links go to

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Watch the Memory Loss Tapes Now on the Internet (HBO Streaming Video)

Blog to Cope With Alzheimer's

Seniors in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, with mild to moderate memory loss, are writing Weblogs to help them make sense of their daily lives. And the activity, they say, is slowing the onset of their symptoms.

'Many people, once they're diagnosed with AD, simply give up on life,' said Alice Young, a 75-year-old former psychotherapist who divides her time each year between Florida and Minnesota. 'And those are the people who go down more quickly.'

Read More:

Special Reminder: PBS Presents The Future of Alzheimer's

PBS will present a special evening of programming focused on Alzheimer's disease on Sunday, August 3 starting at 9 p.m.

The programming starts with a national encore broadcast of the Emmy-Award-winning THE FORGETTING: A Portrait of Alzheimer's, followed by a new half-hour discussion, The Future of Alzheimer's, moderated by actor and Alzheimer's champion David Hyde Pierce.

I am an Alzheimer's Caregiver: Kids bring joy to Alzheimer's Sufferers

The following article shows that our children can really play an important community service role in our society. The kinds of interactions with Alzheimer’s patients that are described not only benefit the patients they give the children important lessons in life. I found this article uplifting.

On a personal note, I can tell you my mother is reacts very positively to children. A child always brings a smile to my mothers face. If you look closely you can see she is experiencing real feelings of joy and happiness. On those days where my mother has interactions with children or young adults she usually has a better, brighter day.

Source Sioux City Journal

The generations appear to mesh seamlessly when kids from Building Futures Child Care, a public program of the Boys & Girls Home, make their weekly visit to the Alzheimer's Association's Adult Day Services room.

Without being told, the youngsters eagerly fill in the couple of empty chairs at each table. The clients who came Thursday have been chatting, listening to music or just sitting. Soon, the children's teacher, Julie Bell, and aide Cindy Levering, are passing out clear plastic suncatchers and squeezing splats of bright-colored paints into trays for each person.

The children, ages 4 to 10, have come for an hour or two every Thursday this summer. They play board games, read a library book or do a craft and then share a snack with the clients. Both generations benefit from their time together, even if not everyone remembers it well.

'I love it'

"My middle name is Mess-up," client Marian Persinger laughed as she fixed a drip on her suncatcher. She said she enjoys the children's visits. "The camaraderie. Whatever (craft) they bring, we do. We frosted cookies with them last week," she remembered.

"I know. We made caterpillars," Dylan Thompson, 5, offered. It's not clear whether he meant last week or another time. It doesn't matter.

"Oh, I love it," client Kay Erskine said. "Seeing these kids and watching them, it's really neat."

The children provide a flashback to a happy time for Linda Young, as well. She has attended the center nearly every day for the past three years, since suffering a brain injury in a fall at work.

"It's my first time. I'll watch," said one man who actually comes to the center five days a week. Matt Elgert, 6, unperturbed by the disconnect, painted his suncatcher and talked about playing Candy Land on an earlier visit.

Client Mike Biderman, a retired Navy man who comes to the center often, said he thinks the interaction is good for the children, too. "They should have some exposure to adult life as early as possible," he said.



'Bring somebody joy'

Mary Jo Sikkema, director of the Alzheimer's Association, said the children's visits are important. They keep clients busy, stimulate their brains and give them an opportunity to socialize with other people. She said it's rare that a client doesn't want to participate, or gets agitated.

Stephanie Altamimi, director of Day Services, said she think the clients especially like doing crafts with the children because they feel they are helping the kids. And, she said, the adults feel a connection to all children who visit the center, whether it's the day care children or a family member's child.

Levering said she was surprised at first at how well the children handle their visits. "They're so patient with the clients," she said.

Bell added, "I explained to them they're volunteering their time to bring somebody joy. They really got the concept."

Altamimi said other young people also visit the Day Center. She said sometimes a church or high school group will come and stay most of the day. Some have played band instruments, or drummed up a game of chair volleyball with clients. "We don't ever turn anybody away," she said.

Bell said her group plans to keep its visits going, even after summer ends. They'll come to the center on all the "early out" Mondays of the school year. Days when classes end at 1 p.m., the kids in her program will assemble at the Alzheimer's Day Services Center for crafts, snacks -- and bringing joy.





The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease and Memory Loss in Later Life

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Statins that stave off Alzheimer's (Zocor)

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Statins that stave off Alzheimer's (Zocor)

"The strength of this study is that it examines the issue with a huge amount of statistical power and uses existing data to look prospectively at Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s," said lead author Benjamin Wolozin, MD, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at BUSM.

"The strength of reduction of incidence of dementia with simvastatin is striking,".


Simvastatin
zocor
statins
alzheimer's
caregiving

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that the statin, simvastatin, reduces the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease by almost 50 percent. This is the first study to suggest that statins might reduce the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. These findings, will be published in the July online open access journal BioMed Central (BMC) Medicine.

Statins that stave off Alzheimer's

By Nicole Laskowski


Statins May Stave Off Alzheimer’s

What’s up:

If you’re taking a statin to reduce cholesterol, you may also be improving your chances of avoiding certain neurodegenerative diseases. New research from the School of Medicine indicates that simvastatin, a statin sold as Zocor, reduces the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease by almost 50 percent.

The researchers, led by Benjamin Wolozin, a MED professor of pharmacology, screened the Decision Support System database of the United States Veterans Affairs Medical System, looking for the effects of three statins — simvastatin, lovastatin, and atorvastatin — on the expected incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. His study of more than 700,000 subjects taking simvastatin showed that the drug reduced the incidence of both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease by almost 50 percent. A study of people taking atorvastatin showed that the drug reduced the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease by almost 10 percent. Lovastatin was not shown to reduce the incidence of either disease.

Wolozin is unsure why simvastatin reduces the incidence of these diseases, but he suspects that because the statin blocks a cholesterol-producing enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase, it may also affect the production of other chemicals. He notes that simvastatin reduces inflammation, and that it increases the production of some growth factors in the brain, which may make neurons more capable of resisting chronic degenerative disease.

What it means to you:

“If you are someone who is at risk for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, you should use simvastatin because it could slow the process,” said Wolozin. “Most people currently use atorvastatin, because it is effective at reducing vascular injury related to cardiovascular disease. If your major health risk is cardiovascular disease, you might want to stay with atorvastatin, but if your major health risk is neurodegenerative disease, you might consider switching to simvastatin.”

Word to the wise:

At the moment, researchers recognize a relationship between simvastatin and the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. They do not know how this relationship works. Be advised that statins may cause side effects such as headaches, nausea, rash, weakness, and muscle pain.

What’s next: Wolozin hopes to learn to determine how strong the relationship is between statins and degenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He plans on studying how the drug slows the progression of symptoms by gathering data on when Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease patients, both on and off the drug, meet certain well-known markers of the diseases.

Simvastatin
zocor
statins
alzheimer's
caregiving

alzheimer's disease, BioMed Central (BMC) Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, caregiving, dementia, HMG-CoA reductase, lovastatin, simvastatin, statin, zocor